I'm Stunned

Got our mail from the mailbox. A letter from Madame Nelis, our proprietor. It was written in English instead of her normal french. She has informed us 'officially' that she is selling the house!
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???
Well, I called her son, Peter. He says that the house will go on the market. We can buy it if we like. For a mere 650,000 Euros! Um, let's see. That's nearly a million dollars. I don't think so.
Can they wait 2 years? Then we will move? "No."
The cushion to this windfall, is that, by law, we will have 4 months before we have to vacate once the house sells.
So even if it sold Oct 1st, we wouldn't have to vacate until Feb 1st. And that would be unlikely. Usually it takes longer than a few days for a house to sell. More than likely though, it would be that we will have to vacate the house this spring...March or April?
So the Christmas crew is safe. We can still have one more Christmas in Belgium. In this house. But it will be the last. I knew it would come, but there are so many stinkin' memories attached to this house! And I wanted the 'last' to be on MY terms, not a forced issue!
Tom is in Romania. He comes home tonight to this news. I have no idea what he will think. Do we move locally? Or is this the time to move back to the States? What about all of our plans for this spring/summer...we have Seth/Heidi, Jake/Mel, Bluths, Greens that have all said they were coming. And I'm pretty sure that Steve was planning one more summer at home. Well, they can still come, but we will be in a different house. THAT will be weird. Or is this the time to just throw in the towel and move to Hawaii (just kidding). My thoughts are running wild. Wild, I say!
There is a chance that the people who buy the house will buy it as an investment and we could continue to rent for the next 2 years. I wonder how likely that would be? But it is a possiblity. My gut feeling is that when people buy a house of this size it's for themselves, not to rent out.
Bottom line. Everything, and I mean everything is in the air. Except Christmas of course! After that, only the Lord knows. Good thing He is in charge or I would panic. And I'm pretty near panic mode. But that's because I got the news just about an hour ago.
So, Lara, Heidi, Mel, and maybe Natalie (who may not read this for a couple of weeks!) do you think you can lend any calming advice here? In the words of Lara, "I wish I could see around the corner better!"
I think I'll go to GB now and try to take my mind off of it all.

A beautiful baby girl

It's probably just 'my girls' who read this blog, so it won't be news to anyone. But Tom is out of town and I have to shout it out to somebody! And besides, maybe he will read my blog (he is in Romania) A new baby girl Portugal has arrived. 7 lb. 15 oz. and 20 inches and her apgar score was 8.8. She was born Sept 24th, 2008 at 7:39pm. Her birthplace is Cedar Park, Texas.
So this is grandchild #8. We have several born in Utah, one in North Carolina, and now one in Texas. Tommy, Brauer, and Baby Portugal all born in 2008! Heidi and Seth, you are next. Oh, and if this IS news, then I apologize, because I'm sure Natalie and Noel want to be the first to let you know. Just ignore the above info!
We still await the news of her name. Certainly her name has been severely agonized over. But it will settle on her, and when it does, it will be a perfect fit.

Why I don't own a dog

I went on a bike ride with my friend Deb D'Augustino. She has a cute little dog named Chip. We had bought Deli France sandwiches and decided to stop and eat on a park bench. We had chip with us, in a bike basket, and Deb let Chip out to run around in the park. He really is a cute little dog. It's the same kind of dog that is in the movie 'Mask'. Anyway, we were chatting and talking about the dog, and how cute he is and how good he is, and the only drawback was leaving him in a kennel when they traveled. Right then Chip came trotting up to us, stood next to Deb, lifted his leg, and peed right on her leg! I am not joking. She was in such a state of shock that she didn't say or do anything for the first couple of seconds.
She was furious and I was busting up laughing. Easy for me since he didn't use me as target practice!
I still chuckle when I think about it.

Not home

So we are off to Den Haag and London. Won't return until late on Sunday.
So if we don't get in touch....HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE-O! Hope you have a great day there in Hawaii, even if nobody knows it's your birthday. Eighteen years old. Wowzer.

The Cougar Fans

It was very late at night, but the cougar fans were thrilled. Thanks to the Millers and Mikala's mom who has a slingbox, we got to watch the game live.
As soon as we got home we called Steve and Seth and Dan. Ok, so it was 1:00am. Fun to watch the cougars really whoop up on a team, especially a team like UCLA.
So Dad has to keep paying his tithing.

The D(Dan) L(Lara) Clan

Do they even know how cute they are? Zane with his prized baby brother. Scarlet at dance class. Daphne crossing the monkey bars for the first time (I was there for it!). Oh such great times.
Then we have a shot of the bowlers. Did you know that I came in last place, followed closely by Seth. Good thing is wasn't a game of 'greed' or I would have had to do the punishment. And Seth and I were the ones who really wanted to go bowling! We stopped at Iceberg afterwards for ice cream. Man, those are HUGE milkshakes! Oh, Lara was a bowler too...oh yes, she was in the car...yep, with Brauer. He is always hungry!
Now the one taken from the soccer game. Just look at those gorgeous, gorgeous mountains. I do think that they are taken for granted. They are just magnificent. Followed closely by the magnificent DL family clan!
Thanks for all the great times.

Soeur Herway in Caen

I finally got a CD full of pictures from Colie. In her words, "Finally the much anticipated photo CD has arrived. Basically it's just a bunch of photos of me with amis, less actives and members. There are also some pictures with our district at the American cemetery at the Normandie beaches and of course a ton of Soeur Osen and I. Everyone said we were twins. There's a really cool one with a gigantic pain de chocolat. Don't worry I didn't eat it all myself. The members and amis and less actives here in Caen stuff us enough. I'm grateful I have to walk all day long otherwise I'd turn into a maxie pain du chocolat! The funny thing is that even with all the photos you still can't even begin to imagine how wonderful missions really are. We might be soaked and tired and hungry and rejected (which quite frankly happens even when you're not on a mission so big deal) but nothing matters. What matters is that it is true and that it changes lives."

It's great to see her in action. It seems she was born a missionary. She is loving it and we are all proud of her service. Go missionaries all over the world!

Monique and Linda

This photo is of Linda. She lives in Nogent, her first area. Linda was the ami that showed up at church and asked Colie if she could teach her. "Uh ok!" When she left Nogent, they were teaching her about the law of chastity and the news from Nogent is that she is trying to fix a wedding date so that she can fix a baptismal date. Yay Linda!




This is Monique from Nicole's mission whom Colie has written so much about. In Colie's words: "What a cutie. I still think of and pray for her."

Steve's address in Hawaii

Steve's birthday is coming up on Sept 19th and I know some of you wanted his mailing address:
Steve Herway
BYUH #1412
55-220 Kulanui St.
Laie, HI 96762

The more cards he gets the merrier. It will probably be a rather 'lonely' 18th birthday, as everyone is new and nobody knows it will be his birthday. Seth claimed his 18th was the most lonely b/c he had just been dropped off at BYU Provo and was in that situation. Thanks for the heads up Seth. We'll try not to make the same mistake with Steve!
And a happy birthday to Scarlet on Sept 12th...3 years old!

Packer Reunion

Can you name all these family members? I think I got a photo of everyone that came. I might have missed a 'wee one' or two, but I think I have everyone else. It really was a fun time. Thanks to Steve and Renee for a job well done!

Brauer's Blessing Day

The Lord, through Dan, gave Brauer a beautiful blessing. Among other blessings, a big heart and a listening ear. He is the sweetest baby. As good natured as they come. We felt honored and blessed to be here for the big day. Lara and I 'fight' over who gets to hold him. I'm onto her though. She says, "oh, he needs to eat...." and I never get my turn! Just kidding. I'm stealing him to my hearts content. But Lara is doing a super job of holding onto her fleeting moments with a newborn. We get one more week with the Dan/Lara Herway kids. I'm savoring every moment!

The sleeper wave in Kauai

The first photo is on the balcony of our condo. It was perfectly secluded, yet near the beach. We loved it! This little bay of beach was where Gilligan's Island was filmed. Ever heard of that sitcom? Well, it was popular when Dad and I were kids. And I never dreamed we would actually stay on that very bay/and island!
The second photo is the beach that is VERY FAMOUS! This is where Nicole was captured by the sleeper wave. Looks peaceful, huh? Guess she was there in the winter when the waves were just unpredictable. We laid a lei in memory of her survival!
The last two photos were of a hike that we took that is unaccessible by car....you drive to a certain point on the island and the road stops. Then to continue it must be on foot. We were determined to make it to the beach....so we practically RAN to make it before the sunset. Getting caught on the mountain in the dark would have been a fatal mistake. We just barely made it out in time. Dad was hauling. I kept thinking, "doesn't he know he is 57 years old?" I was barely keeping up with him!

Sunset Dinner Cruise in Kauai

Do you recognize the coastline from the temple movie? I couldn't quite get the same shot since they were probably in a helicopter and I was on a boat, but I think it's the same coastline.
Fabulous Kauai. I want to win the lottery and have us all go there!